52 in 2011
Mar. 16th, 2011 04:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lumineaux24. The Shirt on His Back by Barbara Hambly
(http://www.amazon.com/Shirt-Back-Benjamin-January-Mysteries/dp/0727880101/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300305428&sr=8-1)
This is the newest entry in Hambly's re-invigorated Benjamin January mystery series. I love Ben as a character. I also love his supporting cast, so I've looked forward to this book since the early news that we would get some insight into Abishag Shaw, the New Orleans City Guard Lieutenant who has been one of Ben's steady allies. Unfortunately, we find out only a few details, just enough to whet our appetite for more.
Hambly takes Ben out of his native New Orleans (and away from his wife Rose, my favorite supporting character) and into the American West on a mission to help Lt. Shaw avenge the murder of his brother. Ben, Hannibal and Shaw trek to a fur trader's rendez-vous, where they meet a huge and slightly confusing cast of characters. I found the plot to be a little more opaque than Hambly's usual intrigues, and I wasn't all that enamored of taking Ben out of New Orleans yet again. But an OK Ben January book is still far far far better than the usual drek out on the shelves. So while this may only be a B- entry by Hambly standards, graded on the curve, it's still an A- book.
Which brings me to the book I made the mistake of picking up off the discount shelves at Barnes & Noble out of misguided curiousity. I finished this piece of tripe only so that I could warn others against it:
25. Priestess of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana Paxon
What a piece of crap. I can't tell whether Paxon, finishing the work from Bradley's outline and notes, just didn't care or whether she thinks this sewage will pass as a novel when it's got their names attached. Imagine a novel with no characters, only plot. By this I mean that there are chess pieces with names that the authors move in and out of various events, but at no point do these chess pieces display any human qualities or emotions. I didn't think that a first person narration could be completely devoid of any feeling, depth or insight, but somehow Paxon manages to fumble even this most basic literary technique.
The "story" is about Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine of Rome, famous for making Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Since tradition says that Helena was British, Paxon and MZB decide to link her up with their established Avalon cycle and, hey presto, Helena was born as Eilan and trained as a priestess of Avalon before abandoning her heritage for the sake of her Roman lover. There's a good story in this concept. It's not this story. Eilan/Helena is a spoiled brat in the early parts of the story before abandoning even that much of a personality. Her Roman lover is never compelling enough that anyone could believe Eilan would leave behind Avalon for his sake. Her relationship with her son is profoundly dysfunctional, but at least it has glimmers of being interesting. She raises him to believe he is the Chosen One who will change the world, and then is shocked when her adult son acts like a megalomaniac dictator.
There are several appalling moments when the authors drop anvils on us, such as when Eilan/Helena in a moment of "profound insight" decides that the essence of being a woman must involve both the ability to get pregnant and the power to decide to terminate the pregnancy. The best thing that can be said about this tripe is that the treatment of Christianity is more even-handed than in The Mists of Avalon.
This book represents three hours of my insomniac life that I am never getting back. It was only in anticipation of writing a scathing review that I bothered to finish it at all. So if you see Priestess of Avalon sitting in the Barnes and Noble discount shelves, don't be lured by the pretty cover. Run fast and run far.
FYI: Although I've been reading books other than the ones about which I'm posting reviews, I'm not listing or reviewing re-reads. For example, I re-read the entire Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone series by Gregory Keyes, which I think I reviewed the last time I did this 52 books thing.
(http://www.amazon.com/Shirt-Back-Benjamin-January-Mysteries/dp/0727880101/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300305428&sr=8-1)
This is the newest entry in Hambly's re-invigorated Benjamin January mystery series. I love Ben as a character. I also love his supporting cast, so I've looked forward to this book since the early news that we would get some insight into Abishag Shaw, the New Orleans City Guard Lieutenant who has been one of Ben's steady allies. Unfortunately, we find out only a few details, just enough to whet our appetite for more.
Hambly takes Ben out of his native New Orleans (and away from his wife Rose, my favorite supporting character) and into the American West on a mission to help Lt. Shaw avenge the murder of his brother. Ben, Hannibal and Shaw trek to a fur trader's rendez-vous, where they meet a huge and slightly confusing cast of characters. I found the plot to be a little more opaque than Hambly's usual intrigues, and I wasn't all that enamored of taking Ben out of New Orleans yet again. But an OK Ben January book is still far far far better than the usual drek out on the shelves. So while this may only be a B- entry by Hambly standards, graded on the curve, it's still an A- book.
Which brings me to the book I made the mistake of picking up off the discount shelves at Barnes & Noble out of misguided curiousity. I finished this piece of tripe only so that I could warn others against it:
25. Priestess of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana Paxon
What a piece of crap. I can't tell whether Paxon, finishing the work from Bradley's outline and notes, just didn't care or whether she thinks this sewage will pass as a novel when it's got their names attached. Imagine a novel with no characters, only plot. By this I mean that there are chess pieces with names that the authors move in and out of various events, but at no point do these chess pieces display any human qualities or emotions. I didn't think that a first person narration could be completely devoid of any feeling, depth or insight, but somehow Paxon manages to fumble even this most basic literary technique.
The "story" is about Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine of Rome, famous for making Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Since tradition says that Helena was British, Paxon and MZB decide to link her up with their established Avalon cycle and, hey presto, Helena was born as Eilan and trained as a priestess of Avalon before abandoning her heritage for the sake of her Roman lover. There's a good story in this concept. It's not this story. Eilan/Helena is a spoiled brat in the early parts of the story before abandoning even that much of a personality. Her Roman lover is never compelling enough that anyone could believe Eilan would leave behind Avalon for his sake. Her relationship with her son is profoundly dysfunctional, but at least it has glimmers of being interesting. She raises him to believe he is the Chosen One who will change the world, and then is shocked when her adult son acts like a megalomaniac dictator.
There are several appalling moments when the authors drop anvils on us, such as when Eilan/Helena in a moment of "profound insight" decides that the essence of being a woman must involve both the ability to get pregnant and the power to decide to terminate the pregnancy. The best thing that can be said about this tripe is that the treatment of Christianity is more even-handed than in The Mists of Avalon.
This book represents three hours of my insomniac life that I am never getting back. It was only in anticipation of writing a scathing review that I bothered to finish it at all. So if you see Priestess of Avalon sitting in the Barnes and Noble discount shelves, don't be lured by the pretty cover. Run fast and run far.
FYI: Although I've been reading books other than the ones about which I'm posting reviews, I'm not listing or reviewing re-reads. For example, I re-read the entire Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone series by Gregory Keyes, which I think I reviewed the last time I did this 52 books thing.
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Date: 2011-03-16 10:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-16 10:29 pm (UTC)